Simbaboy's Easy Living (MI)

My daughter lives in Vancouver and my son just moved with his family to Ames, IA, so now I have plenty of excuse material to make trips west. I really need to try to make a trip in late summer-early fall so I can actually reach the photogenic destinations at altitude that I've missed, traveling in April-May when access roads are still closed.

went and saw Sam on sunday, ate some good hawaiian food, bowled a couple games with 5 friends.

past that, its been mostly work and a trip to the snow under protest.

as we all know, its pretty much spring/summer all year in southern CA.

no winter doldrums.

me......

I'm getting stroked by GM over my stinking colorado. was hoping to have it sorted by now, but now its looking that may is the earliest anything will happen. heres to hoping on that front.

i bought a beat up four wheel camper for a truck i don't have. its going next week to the shop to get completely rehabbed. i have a thread in "camping" about it.

I'm doing my due diligence on what vehicle/mode of travel for my next go round. even though I'm rebuilding the camper, I'm not sold on the whole truck and camper thing. I'm keeping all my options open.

truck and camper
full size AWD transit van, with light camper build out inside.
(vehicle) and small RV trailer.

im not in 100% need of a truck, but i don't do well in a car, so truck, van or SUV is mandatory. I'm not gonna lie, i kinda really dig the honda ridgeline AWD, and it would tug along a 14ft trailer very nicely.

I've started looking at campers, might go check some out, again, just doing my due diligence and not being closed minded to anything.




hope y'all have a nice winter, ill see everyone in moab in april.

While Kendra and I are going to miss Moab this year - shoulder surgery scheduled - we leave Saturday for a month and a few days in Death Valley. I recommend Death Valley, lots of great riding and a lot fewer people than Moab.

Different country than Moab, but pretty cool as well. You guys have a great time and be safe!

George, how do you find out that info?

Try to get a bit west of DV and check out the Alabama Hills. Lone Pine is a wonderful little town and worth a night's stay. The visitor center just south of town is well worth a visit!! https://www.fs.usda.gov/recarea/inyo/recarea/?recid=20698

https://www.discovermoab.com/movie-sites/

I’m just going off this list. I’m also a life long fan of John Ford movies, many of which were filmed in and around Monument Valley so I’ve been rewatching a lot of those as well in my spare time

If you’re not set on using the FWC then the ridgeline is quite the little truck. I tried to sell my wife on one since she doesn’t need a giant beast of a truck like I do, but she’d rather have the extra room and interior capacity of her Town & Country.

My two Sienna AWD minivans are really good reliable cars. But it would be nice to get a big fat ass diesel dually truck.

Imu

Yeah. Cuz one cannot hemorrhage money quick enough flipping motorcycles and minivans.

No dually for me yet, just a crew cab long bed diesel. If I bought a dually then I'd be tempted to trade our 5th wheel camper on a bigger one and that can spiral out of control. I'll stick with the paid for 10 year old 5th wheel toy hauler and the almost paid for 3 year old truck for now.

Nice looking truck---it does not look 10 years old.
I am just talking out loud about a diesel dually---I am way too sensible for that.
My Hummer H2 barely gets any use especially with the milder Winters. Its also in like new condition with only 55K Miles.
Imu

Yeah, and 'John Ford Point':

I drive way too much freeway traffic bullshit to deal with a dually diesel. As George will tell you, maintenance on modern diesels SUCK! Especially in states you gotta smog em.(I do)

I am not a huge fan of towing (CA 55mph speed limit) and I suck at backing a trailer.

but!!!

the couple small trailers I’m thinkin about will be pretty damn nice to have all the amenities n shit and heather I’m sure would appreciate it.

it could also double as a “beach house” when friends come to visit. Meaning, they can stay at my house and I’ll take off to the beach!

I can store what I’m thinkin about at the shop, the boss already offered multiple times so that’s a non issue.

too many nice choices. And I gotta tell ya, I’m damn fortunate that my biggest woes are what truck and what I want to camp in.

In my last couple of departments, we quit buying diesel powered trucks for use as wild land firefighting rigs. While the power and especially torque is better with the diesel, we kept having maintenance issues due to them sitting too long not being run on incidents.
Diesels need to be run frequently, up to full operating temperature, optimally at a constant load, for best results. Gas motors are better in the long run for less often yet intense and varying use like we needed. Local ambulance company went away from diesel for similar reasons.

I fought the urge to go back to a diesel, but towing our 5th wheel with a gas F250 finally convinced me. We regularly camp at 9,000ft and the gasser struggled to get up the hill and even on flat ground at lower (5,000-6,000ft) elevations I was only getting 4-6mpg depending on my speeds. The diesel has no issue with elevation thanks to the turbo and it easily gets 8-10mpg while towing.

If I didn’t tow 10-15k pound trailers at higher elevations then there’s no way I’d even consider a modern diesel. If you use them as they’re designed to be used they are incredible machines, but they certainly have their downsides and they are a poor choice as a commuter vehicle!

Referring back to Utah films, I just found this today:

https://www.visitutah.com/things-to...m_medium=OrganicSocial&utm_campaign=3Season20

I love towing with our Ram Diesel. Any of the new trucks have more than enough power to be the fastest going up a big hill, I'm more concerned about how slow I can go down a huge hill. I've only been pushed once going from Stovepipe Wells to Panamint Springs in Death Valley - I started too fast at the top of the hill - the combined weight of truck and trailer was scaring me into some curves. I was sweating B-B's. Don't want to do that ever again.

The turbo brakes on the newer Diesels are amazing. Usually coming down a pass with a loaded trailer I can control the speed just with the turbo brake without ever hitting my brakes. Can also use the transmission if required, but usually don't need to shift down.

towne pass is a steep pass, and fun as hell on a motorbike. Love the Death Valley area, would love to get the Moab Jedi master out here to ride there. I’d even dust off the boots and show him around

'IN' Friend.
We will plan something.
Imu

thats why i still driving my 11 yr old diesel